The online archive of the Chicago Women's Liberation Union (1969-1977)

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Jane Stories

Organizing a Clandestine Abortion Network

by Ruth Surgal (Editors Note: This article was developed from a 1999 interview conducted by Becky Kluchin. The picture of Ruth is from the 1995 video Jane: An Abortion Service. )
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Something Real: Jane and Me. Memories and Exhortations of a Feminist Ex-Abortionist

by Linnea Johnson

Over the years, I have become convinced that patriarchal capitalism is a system women cannot revise any more than we can "reform" water so that we might breathe it. As long as the law is male, women must be outlaws. I became an outlaw when I joined "Jane," a group of women in Chicago who, between 1969 and 1973, did more than 11,000 abortions.

Writings on Abortion

by Judith Arcana (Editor's Note: Judith Arcana is a writer whose poems, stories and essays appear often in journals and anthologies. Her newest book is What if your mother? See Judith’s profile at womenarts.org; for readings/talks, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .)
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On the Job with Jane

by Jeanne Galatzer-Levy "I was really adrift, but I wanted to do something, and it seemed to me that if you were going pick something in terms of women and politics the front lines was abortion because women were dying and that was real."
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